Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-04-26
QUEER ARTICLES OF DIET.
Some Delicacies Found i'm the Chimes,
and japanese Markets.

From the Youths Companion.
Walking through the Chinese market in San
Francisco one sees some very queer articles OF
food offered for sale-smau pats OF soft cheese,
vanished amber brown, and stamped with Chi
neSe characters; well peeled chestnuts, with tiny
slices OF white cocoanut wrapped In neat little
cornucopias of glossy cabbage leaf; forty kinds Of
dried nuts, fruits (whole or slieed), roots and
barks.
and fish, alive, freshly dressed and smoked or
dried; meats half cooked in the carcass; wreaths
lOnes like black models for dolls hats; shreis OF
white cuttlesh. and host OF other edible curiosi-
ties.
A stranger might suppose that they were simply
curfoS1t1es, like the ancient sticks OF barber-pOe
candy exhibited In the dfngy windows of country
grocery; or, IKE tne nam elaborately decorated
with geonetrica puzzles in Jelly, to be admired,
but on no account TO be carved. Not at all. They
are regarded as eatable, and they are eaten.
In fact the Chinese and japanese eat everything
that comes out OF the All the fishes are good
10 their taste, andsare caught with great Skill.
SeaWeeds OF several sort are sent far Into the in.
terror, 10 De used In thickening SOUPS graveS and
puddings, and are highly priced because they give
reishing flavor OF salt, which is luxury beyond
the reach OF most Chinese peasants.
The Use OF seaweed Is almost identical with the
very common use OF "Irish moss" by Americans in
making foot hsome dishes. But, indeed, fishes
and SeaWeed are eaten the world over, but surely
no other people eat the tide-1at animals swal-
lowed by the natives OF Yesso. For example the
Vi
which ''shells" belong are called ascidtans. They
grow sometimes singly sometimes in clusters.
and are rooted immoyably TO the sandy bottom
subestlng on what the currents may bring to
them.
In Japan there Is an ascidan {Cynthia) which is
as Large as ones fist. 1t has no she'll whatever,
and Is gray, habby, tulip shaped sac, supported
on a short stalk. But In spite OF its fOrbidding
appearance. the Japs pickle 1t in vinegar and use
IL as food
Another animal growing between the high and
low Water-marks on the japanese coast is mud
worm called ISABELLA. 1t occupies a hard, umy tube
OF its own making and gets its food when the high
tide comes up over Its hiding place, by thruStin
out head buShy with tentacles, and sucking in
currents OF water loaded with minute PARTICLES of
nutr1ment. out OF this wrigging creature the
shore people make soup, which is true yermicell1,
not paste imitation OF 81 little worms, and it is
said to taste as badly as IL smells.
better dish Is made from the soft interior parts
OF the Sea-urchln, or ecnimuS, large numbers Of
which Turk along the rocky shores OF the Japanese
archipelago and the northern coast OF China.
have seen the HaidaS and other coast Indians
OF the Pacific shores of British America. devOuring
raw Sea-urchinS with great guStO. crushing them
In their fists sucking out the Orange-cOlOred cluster
OF eggs, which constitute the only edible part,
amounting TO one or two teaspOOnSful, and then
throwing the thOrny case aside. The minute eggs
taste much like oysters, and have been a favOrfte
food OF the natives OF the bleak coast OF Alaska
ages.
On many Of the islands OF the Aleutian archipel-
ago you may see spots close by the beach where
the grass Is always nOticeably greener and more
luXuriant than elsewhere. When the surface soil
Is removed at these spots there is found UNDER
Meath a layer OF what seems to be greeniSh sand
everything the stony or clayey soil of the island.
III Is not sand, however, but the powdered rem
nantS OF sea eggs that have been thrown underfOOt
during unnumbered feaStS. These heaps are often
two or three feet in thickness and cover several
acres They were probably forming for more than
1000 years, and throughout the layer may be
found some interesting stone and bone relics OF
the race which made them.